2008 Woodie Awards
Game creates platform for new synergies
David Fetters
Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: OpEd Page
Start writing to your elected representatives now, because April 29 the infamous Grand Theft Auto (GTA) franchise will release GTA 4, the newest episode in the controversial video game series. The game will be released simultaneously on the Sony Playstation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 to legions of die-hard fans and casual gamers. It will be the first Grand Theft Auto game designed for the newest generation of consoles and it could make a big splash in the gaming market. A really big splash.
There are some pretty good signs already that GTA 4 will be the 2008 Game of the Year. Gaming analyst Mike Hickey has predicted that the game will sell 5.8 million copies in its first seven days, nearly doubling the previous record set by Halo 3 in 2007. The Grand Theft Auto series is one of the best-selling franchises of all time with about 70 million units sold worldwide, and the latest installment will only add to the series' storied history.
The first widely popular game in Rockstar Game's juggernaut franchise was Grand Theft Auto III (GTA 3). The game added a new dimension (specifically, the third dimension) to its visually top-down perspective predecessors. The popularity and controversy surrounding GTA 3 grew to incredible magnitudes as teenage boys fell in love with the virtual world of Tommy Verceti, the mob-employed protagonist of the game.
Rockstar Games followed up its first smash hit with a bigger one, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Vice City took all the new game play possibilities of GTA 3 and set it in the glitz and drug haze of a 1980s metropolis loosely inspired by Miami, Fla. Ray Liotta added an extra Goodfellas dimension to it as the voice of returning anti-hero Tommy Verceti. The game was bigger-both in space and features-than its older brother but it wasn't much different from GTA 3 in capabilities.
In October of 2004, Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, featuring a major update to the games engine, a much larger area and a mainstream set of actors including Andy Dick and Samuel L. Jackson. San Andreas, however, did not sell as well as the two previous installments. Critics pointed out that while the game was a technological improvement, the player controls still felt unnatural and many gamers complained that the breathtaking expanse of San Andreas was simply too large.
There are some pretty good signs already that GTA 4 will be the 2008 Game of the Year. Gaming analyst Mike Hickey has predicted that the game will sell 5.8 million copies in its first seven days, nearly doubling the previous record set by Halo 3 in 2007. The Grand Theft Auto series is one of the best-selling franchises of all time with about 70 million units sold worldwide, and the latest installment will only add to the series' storied history.
The first widely popular game in Rockstar Game's juggernaut franchise was Grand Theft Auto III (GTA 3). The game added a new dimension (specifically, the third dimension) to its visually top-down perspective predecessors. The popularity and controversy surrounding GTA 3 grew to incredible magnitudes as teenage boys fell in love with the virtual world of Tommy Verceti, the mob-employed protagonist of the game.
Rockstar Games followed up its first smash hit with a bigger one, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Vice City took all the new game play possibilities of GTA 3 and set it in the glitz and drug haze of a 1980s metropolis loosely inspired by Miami, Fla. Ray Liotta added an extra Goodfellas dimension to it as the voice of returning anti-hero Tommy Verceti. The game was bigger-both in space and features-than its older brother but it wasn't much different from GTA 3 in capabilities.
In October of 2004, Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, featuring a major update to the games engine, a much larger area and a mainstream set of actors including Andy Dick and Samuel L. Jackson. San Andreas, however, did not sell as well as the two previous installments. Critics pointed out that while the game was a technological improvement, the player controls still felt unnatural and many gamers complained that the breathtaking expanse of San Andreas was simply too large.
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